Balasore: She aspired to fly the skies by becoming an air-hostess. Life, however, had a terrible fate for her in store.
Sangeeta Panda, all of 28 years old, is now a pale shadow of her once glorious self. The young woman from Manipur village of Balasore district had got an offer from a private airline to work as an air-hostess in 2012. However, with her wedding round the corner, she decided to put her dreams on hold and got married to a top official at a reputed mining company who was in her parents’ eyes the epitome of the perfect
son-in-law.
Two years down the line, Sangeeta was diagnosed with scleroderma – a chronic irreversible autoimmune disease that led to a frightful deterioration of her health and her appearance taking a sharp downturn. White patches developed all over her body and she became thin as a rake.
One day, her husband Debasish sent her to her parents, never to take her back.
Sangeeta demanded that all the jewellery and cash worth lakhs that Debasish’s family had taken from her father as dowry be returned, only to be snubbed. She then lodged a complaint with the police and also approached the women’s commission, but to no avail.
Meanwhile, Sangeeta’s father passed away and her family is not in a position to bear her medical expenses, which have already run into an excess of `4 lakh.
Recently, Sangeeta along with her family came to the district collectorate seeking financial assistance but was unable to meet the collector.
Locals requested the government and NGOs to extend help for her treatment. PNN
